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CONTENTS 



Introductory. — To the Reader. 

CHAPTER I. 

1. What is Materialism. — 2. Fallacies of Public Disputations. 

CHAPTER II. 

Explanatory. — Entity.. — Identity. — Personality. — Attributes. — Im- 
mortal. — Immortality. — Soul, Spirit Life. — Matter and Spirit. 

CHAPTER III. 

Materialism Involves many Absurdities. — Its Advocates use Unrelia- 
ble and Untruthful Assertions in its Defence. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Materialists wrest and misrepresent the Holy Scriptures. — Material- 
ism is no part of the Gospel Message. — Is Derogatory to the Divine 
Character and Work as Revealed in the Scriptures. 

CHAPTER V. 

Analysis and Topical Arrangement of Scripture Testimony. — 1st. 
Existence of Angelic (Spiritual) Beings. — 2nd. Man has a Dual 
Nature, or two different Natures : first, Like Angels ; second, A 
distinct Physical Nature — Names ; third, A distinct Spiritual Na 
ture — Names, Attributes, Location, Origin ; fourth, Comparisons 
between the two — Law and Process of Development, Superior- 
ity of the Spiritual, &c, Sympathy between the two Natures, An- 
tagonism, two Natures in Conflict ; fifth, Different Condition in 
and after Death. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Recapitulation. — Probable and Demonstrative Evidence. — Points 
Presented. — Address to the Reader. — Ascription. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Christian Reader : In thrusting this treatise upon your 
notice it may be proper to offer a few remarks in relation 
• thereto : 

The subject of which it treats is one of the most interest- 
ing and solemn that can occupy the human mind. It comes 
home to every heart, whether old or young, rich or poor, 
rude or cultivated, since all alike must die, and death, to 
mere mortal view, is a dark, inevitable and hopeless fate. 
Without revelation we know nothing positively of a be- 
yond. From the day we first comprehend this our fate, we 
walk along the path of our life with the full knowledge that 
at any hour of any day we may be summoned away from 
our pleasant homes, from the sunlight of life, from all our 
associations, all our aspirations, and consigned to the grave. 

The light of God's revelation alone illuminates this dark 
and disconsolate outlook, lifts up as it were a corner of the 
impenetrable veil, and gives comforting glimpses of a glor- 
ious spiritual world beyond. 

Next to the hope of salvation and glory to be realized at 
the coming of the Son of God, is the divine consolation af- 
forded by the assurance of the scriptures — that even in 
death the departing spirit shall be u With Christ which is far 
better" ; and that "When absent from the body we shall be 
present with the Lord." These assurances and others of a 
like nature are a part of the legacy of faith ; the boon of a 
loving Father and faithful Saviour to his weary church , 

The dying christian presses to to his heart these soul sus- 
taining promises, and is comforted thereby, when ruffian 
hands pluck the precious boon away and substitute therefor 
the cold, the fearful annunciation that death (until the res- 
urrection) is total extinction of being. 



And they who would thus disinherit themselves and the 
entire church of God of their heavenly endowment, are pro- 
fessed ministers of Christ, and they claim that this, their 
"Theology," is the true doctrine of the New Testament, 
with a diligence and assiduity becoming a better, a nobler 
sentiment. They have proclaimed and discussed their for- 
mula throughout the land. 

It is the object of this tract to weigh and expose this 
heresy, bringing it to the tests of reason, fact and scripture. 

In this effort the writer lays no claim to superior learn- 
ing or ability ; nor would he forget the fact that able and 
learned men have advocated the error — that many truly 
pious christians have been drawn into it who are really 
ignorant of its latent deformity. • Nor would he ignore the 
fact that in connection with the preaching thereof much 
good has been done (not by the error, but in spite of it) . 
Further, he would not overlook the fact that abler minds 
and pens have thoroughly sifted and refuted the incongru- 
ous system ; their larger works are rather, however, adapted 
to the wants of the ministry. This, our humbler effort (like 
Bunyan's short sword wt all prayer") may reach and benefit 
many who would not have access to larger works. 

What we in our limited measure "have written, we have 
written," and enough has not been said or written against 
this error, while so many pious minds are misled thereb}^. 

Among the writers consulted or quoted are Watts, Drew, 
Butler, Good, Stewart, Locke, and many others. We are 
also much indebted to a most thorough work by the Rev. 
R. W. Landis, "The Immortality of the Soul," from whose 
quotations we have copied, when we had not works at hand, 
and hereby tender our acknowledgments. We have also 
by quotation, permitted some ancient and modern atheists 
and materialists to speak for themselves. Follow us then, 
christian reader, , and while we weigh this matter witness 
for us that we hold the balance with a just and even hand. 

B. D. H. 



CHAPTER I. 

1. What is Materialism? — 2. Fallacies of Public Disputation. 

WHAT IS MATERIALISM? 

This inquiry presents itself at the very threshold of our 
subject, and we devote a page or two in reply. 

Materialism is defined in general as the doctrine of Ma- 
terialists, and a materialist is described as one who denies 
the existence of spiritual substances.* We accept these de- 
finitions, and remark that in a primary sense the term may 
be further defined as the deductions of the Material Philos- 
ophy, or the Atheism of Science. Another phase, and that 
which we propose now to consider, may be defined as an at- 
tempt to engraft the entire system of christian truth and ex- 
perience on the base or stock of material atheism, a living scion 
on a dead post, assuming it as apart of christian doctrine, 'that 
man has no spiritual nature, but is entirely material," &c. 
This heresy has come to the surface in nearty every one of 
the christian centuries, but has never, either in its advocates 
or theology, constituted an essential part of the Christian 
body, but has rather appended as an excrescence thereto. 
It has now again been revived and preached in connection 
with the Advent doctrine, having monopolized that name, 
although without any necessary or appropriate connection 
therewith. 

Among the various phases of opinion prevalent, there are 
three general subdivisions, first, those who hold to the doc- 
trine as originally preached ; second, those who in addition 
deny the resurrection of the wicked dead ; third, those who 
keep the seventh instead of the first day of the week as 

*As some sneer at this use of the word "substance," we remark, 
for their benefit, that the word is thus used by students, for want of 
a '. better term, to distinguish spiritual essences from matter. See 
Locke, Drew, Watts. 



8 

sacred. These each have a philosophy, and literature of 
their own, and all repudiate the name materialist as a stig- 
ma, while professing those very doctrines which the name 
truly indicates. 

The same name is applicable to a shade of belief held 
among the same people, viz., "the soul though material re- 
mains in an unconscious state between death and the resur- 
rection." This sentiment differing essentially from the other, 
has been merged in the stronger element without protest or 
dissent, and in this case the strongest ultraism gives char- 
acter to the whole body, while at the same time the more 
conservative element — the divergent limb — affords a con- 
venient subterfuge when close argumentation has rendered 
the main position untenable. That we may not be accused 
of misrepresentation, we here append, as farther definition, 
extracts from the pens and utterances of some of its ablest 
advocates, as it is from their publications mainly we are to 
gather the outline features of their system. What they 
have written they have written ; what their ministry utter 
is said to the winds, one thing today, another tomorrow. 

"Man is a composite unity made of the dust of the ground and is 
entirely mortal." — Eld. Grant's prep, at Cal. Discussion. 

"Man has no soul or spirit that can exist as a living thing apart 
from his body, his whole nature is mortal." — See Bible vs. Tradition. 
Ellis & Bead. 

"The bible teaches that man, the soul as well as the body, dies, 
and that man is dependent on his resurrection from the grave for all 
future existence." — H. Grew. 

"All the dead are unconscious in their graves ; if there be no re- 
surrection they have perished like brutes." — See Bible vs. Tradition, 
by EMs & Bead. 

"Intelligence is the result of the action of the brain. — Grant in 
World's Crisis. 

"It was the breath that God blew in the nostrils that made Adam 
a living soul. The breath was not a conscious thinking entity be- 
fore its contact with the lifeless form, yet the breath caused Adam 
to see, think, and understand. The one is dead without the other; 
hence death is a negative state and when separated all those func 
tions cease." — S. S. Brewer's Work on the Soul. 

We have thus given a few definitions from the many 
found in their publications ; they are explicit, and sufficient 
for the solution of the question, " What is Materialism?" 
But further quotations will be found in subsequent pages. 



FALLACIES OF PUBLIC DISPUTATION. 

Public debates in religious controversy have been often 
resorted to, both by the friends of truth and the advocates 
of error. 

It is often said in favor of such discussions that truth has 
nothing to lose thereby, and error nothing to gain. But 
this is a fallacy, for in such discussions much will depend 
on the relative ability of the respective champions, on the 
manner in which the contested points are presented, on the 
prescribed rules adopted for the debate, and on the ability 
and impartiality of the umpires. The manner in which 
these exhibitions are very often conducted is significant, 
one if not both of the contestants may have some personal 
or partisan advantage in view, a newspaser to advertise 
or to establish themselves as leaders or Bishops "per se " 
over their respective communities, or to exhibit their abil- 
ity and skill as controversialists. 

With such disputants the mode and points for discussion 
are trimmed to suit at least the smartest one, and so ar- 
ranged that competent umpires will be loth to officiate. The 
contest proceeds by the disputants hurling scripture texts, 
Hebrew and Greek grammar, and unproven statements at 
each other until they are out of breath, and the audience out 
of patience, when the fray terminates, both sides claiming 
the victory. 

Let us suppose however that in the debate the points are 
fairly stated, the judges well qualified and prompt, and that 
their decisions are to be rendered according to the ability 
and power of the argument as presented, and not at all by 
their own knowledge of the true merits of the case. Of 
course then if the discussion preponderates that way the 
decision must be that two and two make five, or in other 
words that error is truth, or that given scriptures import 
something quite different from their manifest signification. 
But let us for a moment suppose that the decisions are to 
proceed entirely on the true merits of the question, legard- 
less of the ability displayed on either side. Of what use 
then the discussion ? We reply, a nine day's wonder. 

Such debates have been often resorted to by the leading 
advocates of Materialism, so that from Maine to California, 
2 



10 

these champions, their system, and their papers, have been 
pretty thoroughly advertised, but so far as truth is involved 
the debates elicit nothing, establish nothing, accomplish 
nothing. 

On the whole it may reasonably be doubted whether public 
disputations do generally advance the interests of religion 
and truth ; certainly they have never settled controverted 
points, while often by the management of noisy or adroit 
champions the}' have resulted in the investing of pernicious 
and even contemptible errors with a temporary but unde- 
served respectability. 



CHAPTER II. 

Explanatory. — 1. Entity. — 2. Identity. — 3. Personality. — 4. Attribute. 
— 5. Immortality. — 6. Soul, Spirit Life. — 7. Spirit and Matter. 

In this chapter we offer a few simple definitions of words 
or terms used in this tract, because they are words or terms 
often misused, and hence misunderstood* ; also, a brief di- 
gest of those great fundamental facts, and the obvious infer- 
ences therefrom, which underlie the whole subject of matter 
and spirit. 

1. ENTITY. 

Entity is defined as a real thing or person, if it be matter, 
whether a gas or a planet, it is a thing ; if a spiritual entity 
it is a person — a spiritual being, although not appreciable 
of our senses, is more truly real than matter itself. — 2 Cor., 
4:18. 

2. IDENTITY. 

By identity we understand the very same thing or per- 
son. Material organism to be identical must be not only the 

*Many writers on this subject "darken counsel by words without 
knowledge. "—Job 38: 2. 



11 

same thing in kind, but the same particles must remain in 
the same cohesion continuously. By spiritual identity we 
understand the very same person, soul, mind or spirit. 

3. PERSONALITY. 

Physical personality is wholly dependent on the resident 
spirit. fct The body without the spirit is dead," thuswe say 
of a dead body, "the remains of such an one." If the spirit 
is in a man he is a person, and however the body may 
change, the personal identity is unimpaired. If the Spirit 
be not in the man the dead body is a thing ; in death the 
departing spirit retains the personality. The body decays. 

' 4. ATTRIBUTE, 

An attribute is defined as an essential inherent qualit}' or 
property, and necessarily pre-supposes the existence of a 
person or thing of which it is the appropriate quality. Says 
an eminent writer. "To suppose the existence of an attrib- 
ute, without admitting the existence of some substance or 
entity of which it is the appropriate quality, is a contradic- 
tion. This proposition is self-evident, for nothing has neith- 
er attribute or quality. 

5. IMMORTAL, IMMORTALITY. 

The term Immortal in the strictest sense imports u not 
mortal," " exempt from death." It is used in three senses — 
first, to signify an inherent principle of endless life ex- 
pressed in Scriptures by the sentence "From everlasting to 
everlasting," attributable only to the Divine nature ; second, 
a life that survives the death of the body, hence the phrase 
Immortal Soul ; third, an unending condition of blessed- 
ness, holiness and glory. 

The stress often laid on the rare occurrence of these words 
in the English bible is adapted only to confuse and de- 
ceive casual readers, for although they do occur but rarely 
in our translation, the equivalents are found on almost 
every page, such as eternal life, never die, cannot die, live 
forever, everlasting life, never perish, &c. We add here the 
language of Dr. Judkins, of Lafayette College, as quoted by 
the Rev. Mr. Landis. He says, "In reference to our bodies 
we have no self-sustaining power ; — is God's hand with- 



12 

drawn ? — we return to dust ; — equally dependent on the 
power of God is the soul of man ; — its immortality is not a 
matter of absolute, but only of moral necessity ; — it can no 
more exist without God's sustaining power than the body 
can." This language is quite in point and need not be mis- 
understood. 

6. SOUL, SPIRIT LIFE. 

The word Soul is used in our scriptures in several differ- 
ent senses, as life, breath, creature, person, man. These 
are all subordinate and exceptional uses, and henc<* estab- 
lish no general rules, but violate them. In its specific prim- 
ary import it signifies a being or entity, endowed with in- 
tellectual, moral and spiritual attributes. Such is its defini- 
tion in our lexicons, and such is its import in many in- 
stances in scripture, and indeed always when a spiritual or 
intellectual exercise is spoken of ; in this sense it is equiva- 
lent to the word Spirit Webster gives its highest defini- 
tion as the "spiritual, rational, and immortal part of man." 

SPIRIT, SPIRITUAL, &C. 

The word Spirit in English, and its equivalents in He- 
brew, Greek and other cultivated languages, signify as the 
highest, the primary idea, an in^orporal being existing with- 
out any known, necessary affiliation with material sub- 
stances. Thus our lexicons define it "a living substance 
considered independently of corporeal existence ; — The in- 
intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of man ; — the soul 
in distinction from the body in which it resides." It is the 
highest expression because it is the highest ideal the human 
mind can reach, "God is a Spirit." The subordinate uses 
of the words in each language are exceptional, ar.d are only 
to be so understood when the connection absolutely re- 
quires it. To parade the fact that in Hebrew and Greek 
the words often signify air, breath, vapor, life, is about as 
honest as for a preacher in opening the text, "There is a 
Spirit in man" — to enlarge on the fact that in the English 
the word "Spirit" was very often used to signify alcholic 
liquor. In either case such communications would tend 
only to confuse and deceive the hearer. 

Further, the words "Spiritual," "Spiritually," as deriva- 



13 

tives must follow their root, "Spirit," when used in the same 
sense or reference. Thus, if the Greek terms for Spirit are 
held to signify air, breath, or vapor, when used in reference 
to man's nature, then the derivatives must be so understood 
when so used. Heuce, Romans 8:6, would read, "To be 
airily minded is life and peace" ; and 1 Cor., 15 and 44, 
44 It ia sown a natural bocly, it is raised a vapory body," and 
so on, ad in. 

LIFE. 

The word life expresses an incomprehensible mystery. 
The profoundest minds, if such have ever attempted to fath- 
om or even define it have never given us the merest solu- 
tion of the query, "What is life?" We all know what it is, 
we all know not what it is. Eld. Grant, in the California 
discussion when driven, as^ertecl that life was an attribute, 
but failed to inform us what it was an attribute of — cer- 
tainly not of matter, either crude or organized, and if an 
attribute of the soul or spirit, then the soul or spirit is a 
distinct personality. Webster gives fourteen different uses, 
beginning with "vitality," which defines life as clearly as 
life defines vitality. The Greek word "Zoe" is best defined 
in Webster, 11th, definition — life, viz., "Heavenly felicity 
in distinction from eternal death." It is often in our trans- 
lation rendered "Life." 

1 . MATTER AND SPIRIT. 

"Everything known to us," says an astute writer, "is in- 
cluded within the confines of Matter and Spirit." 

We stand then at the threshold of all human knowledge, 
44 where two ways meet." And here it becomes us well to 
pause a moment and reflect on the narrow limits of our ut- 
most kn< •wleclge — the field is infinite ; — our vision how cir- 
cumscribed ! — how little the wisest of us know, or can 
know ; how T high ! how deep ! how vast ! the Great Un- 
known ! How well it becomes us to say "I do not know," 
when such is the fact. How unwise in any one to 
affect a measure of knowledge they do not possess, and 
quite as unwise to deny or sneer at any matter of truth or 
fact of which perhaps they remain ignorant solely by reason 
of their own indolence or prejudice. 



14 

We are met at the very threshold of our subject by the 
various speculations of philosophers, some of whom deny 
the existence of Spiritual intelligences altogether, others 
again have doubted the existence of matter altogether (doubt- 
ing philosophers), and yet again others regard matter and 
spirit as really identical. Of this last proposition we will 
here say that if there be a point in the infinite unknown, 
where the distinctive attributes of spirit and matter merge 
and become identical, that point must be so far beyond the 
area of our present knowledge as to leave the proposition 
to us now the night of absurdity. A learned English 
writer thus remarks, "All that we mean or can mean by the 
immateriality of the spirit, is that the phenomena of mind* 
are totally distinct from the known properties of matter." 

Notwithstanding the contradictory theories oi philoso- 
phers, the existence of both spirit and matter is, to the com- 
mon mind, susceptible of positive demonstration, viz., that 
of matter by the universal testimony of the senses — of spirit 
by specific attributes and operations. 

The attributes by which we demonstrate the existence of 
Spiritual intelligencies are consciousness, perception, intel- 
ligence, reason, volition, conscience, and the subordinate 
powers, memory, and imagination. The operations are, 
the intellectual processes and the affections. Now as these 
phenomena cannot be ascribed to matter without involving 
manifest absurdity, and are absolutely incompatible with 
all our knowledge of material substances, and inasmuch as 
their existence is an incontrovertible fact, there must be a 
personality (not a thing) in the which they appropriately 
inhere. That is a spiritual personality, not a physical en- 
tity ; nence says an eminent Scotch writer, u Of all the truths 
we know, the existence of mind is the most certain." 

Looking further we find that man does possess and ex- 



*By the phenomena of mind we understand first, the attributes 
and faculties of the soul or mind; second, the soul's use or exercise 
of its faculties and attributes; third, the results of such use or exer- 
cise. The following quotation illustrates each point, "My medita- 
tion of Him shall be sweet." Here each point necessitates the exist- 
ence of each of its antecedents, and all three necessitate the exist 
ence of an "intelligent personality/' endowed with reflective pow- 
ers. Matter has no such powers. 



15 

ercise these powers, and hence arrive at an important fact, 
viz., man's dual nature, a physical and spiritual nature unit- 
ed in the man. A quotation from another writer may be 
appropriate here ; he says, "The internal real essence of 
substances is to us totally unknown, the infinitely wise God 
has rendered such knowledge incommunicable to man ; but 
while I thus admit our ignorance of the internal essence of 
substances and also our ignorance by what mysterious bond 
of union this immaterial principle, the soul, is confined 
within the compages of the body, I can in neither case ad- 
mit this our want of comprehension to be an argument 
against the fact. The phenomena of the visible material 
world, and also of the intellectual or spiritual world, stand 
on the evidence of their own existence, and the only reason 
we can give why things are as they are, is because the Al- 
mighty Creator has been pleased so to appoint them " 

It may be urged however that as God is Almighty He 
can communicate to matter those attributes and powers 
which we ascribe to Spirit. On this plea we offer another 
quotation as a sufficient refutation. Says this writer, "To 
suppose the existence of an attribute or quality without ad- 
mitting the existence of some substance or personality of 
which it is the appropriate quality is a contradiction. To 
assume that a spiritual attribute or property can be super- 
added to matter in any known form is to admit its previous 
separate existence. Now as a mere quality, considered as 
such, can have no independent existence, there must have 
been some substance or entity of which it was the appro- 
priate attribute* before its superacldition to matter. That 
something being admitted, the existence of a spiritual en- 
tity or personality is also thereby admitted, the very fact 
for which we contend, and the plea is seen to be fallacious 
on its own premises." 

The argument as based on Divine omnipotence is quite 
as futile. Let us illustrate : A lad inquires of his father : 
"father, what is the meaning of the word 'omnipotent?' " 
"It means," replies the father, "Almighty can do all 
things." "Is God omnipotent?" inquires the lad. "Yes, 



* We use the words attribute, quality and property in this con- 
nection, as equivalents. 



16 

my son/' " Well, if he is, can he make too mountains with- 
out a valley between them?" "My son," replies the father, 
gravely, "God cannot do an absurd thing, and to ascribe 
such a work to Him is blasphemous." 80 with this idle re- 
sort, viz : Because God is almighty, therefore He can, and 
will do anything men's dogmas may require to be done, be 
it ever so absurd. 

We repeat our point, if anything be added to matter which 
is not an essential attribute thereof, either matter ceases to be 
matter, or such super- addition is an appendage, an entity, 
and not an attribute ; and it amounts to lit' le in the argu- 
ment whether we consider the Spiritual an appendage of the 
material, or vice versa. The duality is established. 

But further, spiritual properties belong to spiritual intel- 
ligences. Matter is a thim>, and the attempt to hang spir- 
itual attributes on the outside of a thing is a very awkward 
and stupid affair, and one with which Omnipotence ha9 
nothing to do. 

The spiritual phenomena are great facts, as we have seen, 
ever present, and ever rising up before the human mind, in 
every age and every clime. Where, to what, to whom do 
they pertain? Here we must stop and reason. Before us 
is an impenetrable veil, which the lights of philosophy and 
science cannot pierce. The cultivated intellect sees no 
farther within the "misty veil" than the ignorant; only as 
the reason of the one may have educed more from the facts 
than the other. 

Respecting the deductions to be drawn from these "great 
facts," men differ widely. Atheism professes to see in 
them only the operations of a plastic principle inherent in 
matter, a sort of atmosphere permeating, impelling, chang- 
ing all things. This is the fundamental idea of ultra ma- 
terialism, as well as ultra spiritualism ; it is the lowest 
plane — atheism, idolatry. No God, but matter and its 
plastic powers. A universe without a God. 

But in every age and nation the reflective mind, finding 
inert matter rife with the action and process of intelligence 
and design, reasonably infers that there are superior forms 
of being, not like man's corporeal frame, but of etherial 
mold, to whom the spiritual endowments pertain. And by 
his own proprietorship therein he finds himself unconscious- 



17 

ly identified with them in the possession of a common spir- 
itual nature. 

As he himself and all these superior beings must have 
had a Creator infinitely above them, he infers the existence 
of a "First Great Cause. " 

Reasoniug still farther he might infer that this unseen 
state of existence is in some sense a judgment state, and 
last it would not be unreasonable to infer that the spiritual 
part of his being, dropping the material habiliment at 
death, would enter this unseen state. Now this is substan- 
tially the source and substance of what some would style the 
'"light of nature," and what the Materialists stigmatize as 
the u Pagan fable of the immortality of the soul." It is not 
of Pagan, Hebrew, or Christion origin ; it is indigenous in 
the mind of man, and is developed just as far as the mind is 
educated up to an appreciation of the facts. Hence to as- 
sert that Zoroaster, Plato, or airy other great name of an- 
tiquity originated the doctrine of the immortality of the 
soul is a great misrepresentation. It is a great inference — - 
from incontestable facts common to the race — handed down 
by all traditions — endorsed by traditional revelation (all 
there was for the first eighteen centuries of the world's age) 
recorded by the Hebrew revelation, and more fully revealed 
in the Gospel. 

If Christianity be not a system designed and adapted for 
the renovation, restoration and salvation of a lost Spiritual 
nature, we shall search its unique records in vain to find 
evidence of any design whatever therein. Material renova- 
tion must be effected by the laws which control matter. 

The entire moral economy rests only and forever on the 
fact of spiritual existence, and the entire system of re- 
vealed truth rests on the two pillars, the Spiritual and Mor- 
al economies, and these reciprocally rest on the authority 
of Divine revelation, a threefold cord which cannot be brok- 
en. 



18 



CHAPTER III. 

Materialism involves many absurdities, both Philosophical and 
Moral. 

1 st Foremost in its philosophical incongruities is this, 
That it necessarily assumes (as man is entirely material) 
that matter can comprehend itself. We know that the mind 
of man can measurably comprehend matter. The astrono- 
mer, the chemist, the anatomist can comprehend the laws, 
processes, and uses of the various developments of matter. 
The mind can as it were go out of its corporeal cage, move 
around and examine it ; but in every attempt to compre- 
hend its own nature it is at once thrown back aghast from 
the incomprehensible problem. The spiritual can compre- 
hend the material, but cannot comprehend itself. We of- 
fer a quotation here quite in point, "How any created be- 
ing can fully comprehend itself, is a problem I cannot solve. 
A full comprehension implies an expansion of mind which 
takes a circuit around itself, which travels on those mar- 
gins of existence where entity both begins and ends. A 
mind therefore to fully comprehend itself, must be expand- 
ed beyond itself, must exercise its functions where it has 
no being, must act where it is not, and exist in its compre- 
hension where in its real essence, it has no existence what- 
ever." * 

We add that, as these theologians claim that man is en- 
tirely material this is their dilemma, and it exhibits at once 
the absurdity of the system, and furnishes an unanswerable 
argument against it. 

2d. The advocates of this doctrine teach that the "soul 
sleeps with the body," and also use the phrase "uncon- 
scious sleep of the dead," without apparently bestowing a 
thought on the tissue of incongruities involved in such 
statements. First, it is true that death is often in Scripture 



' Drew on the Immateriality of the Soul. 



19 

spoken of as sleep, figuratively, only, however, death in 
fact is fearfully unlike sleep. Second, in death the body does 
not sleep, it is destroyed ; hence the soul cannot sleep with 
it. Third, to assert that the soul sleeps, oris unconsjious, is 
prima facia to ulnrit that it exists, and if it exists then 
it is not extinct, and as death to the body is extinction, we 
arrive, on their own premises, at the very conclusion which 
they endeavor to disprove, viz. — the soul does survive the 
death of the body. 

Here another difficulty lies in their way ; how will they 
demonstrate that a disembodied spirit or soul either sleeps 
or can be unconscious? Certainly not from any known facts 
of philosophy or science, nor yet from the word of God. To 
sum up the matter, then, if the soul does not survive the 
death of the body why prate about the unconscious sleep of 
the soul. If it does survive — and it cannot be demonstrat- 
ed that it is susceptible of either sleep or unconsciousness — 
why base a system of theology on that which cannot be prov- 
ed?* 

3d. Again this system necessarily ascribes to the human 
form the personalit}- and identity of the man, whereas such 
identity is impossible, for then it must be held that it in- 
heres either in the form itself, or in the particles composing 
the form, or in both, but these are both continually chang- 
ing. Identity of organized matter necessarily requires that 
the same particles remain in the same relative cohesion con- 
tinuously. But the human form is like a wonderful, im- 
palpable net work, through which filtrates, at different de- 
grees of speed, the various gases, fluids, and solids, which 



* As the soul has its origin and development in (not from) the 
body, and is destined by its Divine Author to an eternal residence 
in a glorified body, it is a reasonable conjecture, and not unscriptur- 
al, thai while separated from the body, it is partially incapacitated 
for the active exercise of all its powers, but not unconscious, not 
asleep; these are strictly physical phenomena. The scriptures teach 
us that the righteous soul is conscious; first, of the divine presence 
and favor, in a higher sense than when in the mortal body; second, 
of the knowledge of events — past and future; third, of the lapse of 
time; fourth, of holy and blessed rest; fifth, of the companionship of 
kindred spirits — spirits of just men made perfect; sixth, of the com- 
panionship of the whole aggregation of the angelic orders; seventh, 
of being with Christ the Blessed Saviour, as we shall see. 



20 

make up the entire form. Some of the gases are displaced 
every moment. The water known to constitute more than 
half in the weight of the body is displaced every month. 
And the various solids more slowly, but not less surely un- 
dergo their various changes, and pass along their several 
pathways to their exode. To claim for these ever-shifting 
particles, and this leaking net, personality or identity, is a 
desperate resort.* The inconsistency of such theorizing 
will be further illustrated by a consideration of the nature 
of the resurrection. The Materialist holds that the resur- 
rected body (as the true personality) will be the very same 
that went down to the dust. Indeed he must, as his theory 
leaves him nothing but the particles of matter to reason 
upon. 

But as a question of fact the resurrected body will not 
be the same one which decayed ; the identity will not hold 
with reference thereto, but to the same soul, or mind, which 
animated the one, and will animate the other. In proof con- 
sider : First, the Scriptures so assert, 1st Cor. 15: 37 — u Thou 
sowest not that body that shall be." Second, the resurrect- 
ed body will be radically unlike the mortal body in four 
essential particulars, and radical differences destroy iden- 
tity, viz., Origin, Nature, Purity, Indestructibility^. 

(1.) In its origin. The mortal body is human in its ori- 
gin, i.e., born of woman. But the resurrected body will be 
the special work of the spirit of God. 

(2.) The mortal body is a natural body — a wonderful 
combination of mechanical and chemical processes. But the 
resurrected body will be a spiritual body, with a spiritual 
constitution, and whatever else inspiration may indicate by 
that word. It is put in contradistinction to the natural, and 
hence implies a radical difference. 

(3.) The mortal body is vile and unholy, having been 
desecrated by the sin of the soul. The soul of the believer 
at conversion is renewed in the image of Him who created 
him, but the mortal body still retains the taint and curse of 
sin. But the resurrected body will be a holy body. 

* This decaying form is but a type and pledge of the glorious ma- 
terial form, which the apostle denominates "our house which is 
from Heaven." 



21 

(4.) The present body is mortal, since the fall, and is 
made to die — cannot endure long at the farthest — is in con- 
tinual danger of cessation — must be replenished every mo- 
ment by air, every day by moisture, food, and sleep, and 
with all our care, in a majority of cases drops back to its 
original dust before half of its allotted time has expired. 
But the resurrected will be an immortal body — is intended, 
and will be adapted, by its Divine author, to live forever. 
As the natural body ever tends to decay, so the Spiritual 
body will ever tend to life, and cannot die. See Luke 20 :30. 

Now these are radical differences and entirely preclude 
the very idea of "Physical Identity," which is an impossibil- 
ity, and hence an absurdity. 

4th Another manifest absurdity of this doctrine, and 
one that involves both philosophy and the divine economy 
as well, is that it exhibits the disciplinary work of santifica- 
tion as a work done on the body — a body, which at death 
is "blotted out of existence." Let us take up some of the 
facts and consider them. First, the Scriptures teach us that 
the word of God, the ordinances, the trials of life, and the 
work of the Holy Spirit, are, to the true christian, discipli- 
nary, and are appointed to "make him meet to be a partak- 
er of the inheritance of the saints in Light," But, says the 
materialist, "man has no soul apart from his body ; he is a 
composite unity made of the dust of the ground, and is en- 
tirely mortal, and in death is blotted out of existence." 
Very well ! Death takes this composite unity, made of the 
dust, all discliplined, and cultured, and by the Spirit of God 
meetened for eternal glory, and destroys it, and disperses 
each of its components to their original elements, to be re- 
constructed, particle by particle, into the same body at the 
resurrection. Veiy well ! We will admit for the present, 
that which is inadmissible, viz., that there can be Identity 
without continuous Entity, or in other words God can make 
two bodies, radically unlike, and yet have them one and 
the same, and will suppose a parallel case : A skillful 
artist takes wood, steel and brass, and constructs a wonder- 
ful clock, and sets it in motion for trial ; it goes awry ; he 
corrects it ; too fast or too slow — he regulates it with care 
and skill, and when he has perfected it, and made it fit for 
a place on his mantel, he then breaks it in pieces and dis- 



22 

perses the brass, steel, and wood back to their original ele- 
ment, to be reconstructed into the same clock at some future 
time. Now if we admit the ability of the mechanic to effect 
the work, what is the whole operation but a work of absurd- 
ity and folly ! More foolish, however absurd and wicked, 
is that "hypothesis," which, by representing man as a mere 
specimen of organized matter, ascribes to the All-wise Crea- 
tor a process which even in the operations of human agency 
would be deemed insufferably foolish and vain. But fur- 
ther ; it also assumes that this material machine is operated 
and disciplined by moral principles, motives, affections, &c. 
A most incongruous jumble of ideas, reminding one of Ho- 
garth's picture, ,k The Comedy of Errors," 

Such folly we may not, must not attribute to the Divine 
handiwork; it belongs to a disjointed, distorted Theology, 
viz., Materialism. 

Admit that man has a spiritual nature, which constitutes 
his proper personality, which survives the death of the body, 
which is the only part susceptible of spiritual culture, and 
which transfers the identity of the man (all disciplined and 
made meet for glory) from the old decayed body to the new 
glorified body, and all is plain, scriptural, and glorious. 

5th. absurdity. 

Another absurdity involved in this system is that it offers 
as equivalent consolation to the believing soul, robbed of 
the sweet hope in death of being present with the Lord, the 
assurance that in death they will be extinct, and totally un- 
conscious of any lapse of time, &c. 

Let us follow up this elevating consideration. A believ- 
ing soul drawing near to death, supported by the confident 
hope that he will soon be with Christ which is far better, is 
visited by a preacher of this Atheistic Gospel, who assures 
him that his hope is illusory, that in death he will be (until 
the resurrection) blotted out of existence, &c, but consoles 
him with the assurance that he will be utterly unconscious 
of any lapse of time. The dying saint looking mournfully 
into this senseless vacuity, inquires, If this is so, then 
Paul, and Stephen, and the other apostles have been uncon- 
scious or extinct nearly two thousand years ? Yes. And 
Joshua three thousand ? Yes. And the patriarchs nearly four 



23 

thousand? Yes. And a million ages the same, unconscious 
or extinct? Yes. Well, this is poor consolation to offer a 
dying man, a little better than the atheist's comfort, "death 
is an eternal sleep." 

Yet this puerile, cruel substitute for gospel hope, first ad- 
vanced by English schismatics, has been imported and 
adopted by these theologians, and published without ac- 
knowledgment as veritable gospel truth. 

6th absurdity. 

A further anomaly will be seen in their dogma that ex- 
tinction of being is punishment If this is so in the case of 
the wicked, it is so with reference to the righteous, and 
hence, by this code Abel has been punished longer than 
wicked Cain, and the great cloud of Old Testament witness- 
es (of whom the world was not worthy,) more than traitor- 
ous Judas or lying Ananias. Continue the comparisons 
Ad In. 

7th absurdity. 

Further it is held by some of these teachers that the 
words Soul, Spirit, when used with reference to man signi- 
fy air, breath, vapor, life. Very well. And further that 
"intelligence is the result of the action of the brain." Very 
well ! So tMen the brain is the seat and source of intelli- 
gence ; but they hold further, that "it was the breath that 
gave life to Adam, yet the breath was not a conscious, 
thinking, seeing entity, but it caused Adam to walk, talk, 
see, think, and understand.* Very well ! Here is another 
version ; so then the lungs are the seat of intelligent action, 
and not the brain after all ; but here is a difficulty ; in death 
the patient does not breathe out that which he inhaled, the 
oxygen having been absorbed in the body, hence it is not 
true that the breath which sustains life returns to God, but 
this difficulty is explained by another of the wise men. Be 
says, "At the resurrection the same soul or animating prin- 
ciple is not restored to the body." InEccles. 12 :7, we find 
the Spirit, (Ruah, Heb.) goes to God who gave it. Now 
when God restores this ruah to man so that he lives again, 
it is not the same ruah, but ruah of the same kind, though 



* Brewer. 



24 

perhaps less diluted with atmospheric air. Thus we see it 
is God's ruah ; one universal principle pervading the atmos 
phere, and not many distinct ruahs, as our theologians 
teach !"* Then it is not the action of the brain, neither is it 
the breath or oxygen that produces intelligence, but ruah, a 
universal principle pervading the atmosphere. Where are 
our chemists that they have not detected this new element 
of atmospheric air, oxygen, nitrogen, ozone, what else? 

8th absurdity. 

It is certainly quite inconsistent and absurd in these pro- 
fessed exponents of gospel truth ( ?) to accuse the Evangel- 
ical churches of holding the "pagan doctrine of the immor- 
tality of the soul," while at the same time themselves advo- 
cating the same doctrines taught, not by pagans only, but 
by ancient and modern infidels and atheists. We lay spec- 
imens from each, side by side, reader, and leave you to 
judge if it be not so :f 

DOCTRINES OF ANCIENT PAGAN ATHEISTS. 

"Epicurus, the founder of the sect of Epicureans, and Democri 
tus and his disciples, the Cynics, taught that the soul is corruptible, 
and perishes with the body. Epicurus held that the soul was a sub- 
tile elastic gas composed of the most sublimated parts of the atmos- 
phere, introduced into the s}'Stem by respirations and is both materi 
al and mortal." "It comes," says he, "from matter, grows, matures, 
declines, and dies with the body." The Atheist, Lucretius, held the 
same." 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATERIALISM. 

"The soul is part of the man, hence it is also of the dust of the 
ground, and if so, it must cease with the life of the body." — See Age 
of Gospel Light. 

"Man is a composite unity,made of the dust of the ground, and is 
entirely mortal." — Prep. Cat Discussion. 

MODERN ATHEISM. VOLTAIRE 'S THEOLOGY. 

"As no part ©f me had any thought or sense before my birth, why 

*Bible ts. Tradition. 

•(•For many of the quotations presented here and elsewhere in 
this tract, 1 am indebted to Landis' able work, "The immortality of 
the Soul," and if using information received from another, and copy, 
ins: quotations, be plagiarism, I confess my fault gratefully^ if not 
penitently See Landis'' Immortality of the Soul, page 113. 



25 

should it after my death? Will the humming of the bee continue af- 
ter the end of its existence? How can 1 be rewarded or punished 
when I shall cease to be, when nothing which constituted my per- 
sonality remains? 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATERIALISM. 

"Man has no soul nor spirit that can exist as a living thing apart 
from his body; his whole nature is mortal." Bee Bible vs. Tradition, 
by Ellis & Reed. 

"Alan has no immaterial principle or thing, substance, essence or 
naturally immortal soul." See Ihos. Heed's Work on the Soul. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATHEIST, VOLNEY. 

This writer styles the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 
"profane invention," and theorizes just like our dead sleeping theol- 
ogians. "The soul," lie says, "is but the vital principle which re 
suits from the properties of matter, and the action of the elements 
in those bodies where they create a spontaneous movement. To sup- 
pose that this product of the play of the organs, born with them, 
and matured with them, can subsist, when they cease is the ro- 
mance of a wandering imagination." 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATERIALISM. 

"At the resurrection the same soul or animating principle is not 
restored to the body, * * * but we see it is God's ruah, a uni- 
versal principle pervading the atmosphere, and not many distinct 
ruahs, as theologians teach; and it is the cause of life. This word 
our honest translators have translated wind, breath, spirit, and 
spirit of God, so as best to favor the pagan fable of the separate 
conscious existence of a spirit in man." — Bible vs. Tradition. ] 

"Death is that state of being in which there is a total and perma 
nent cessation of all the vital actions wdien the organs have not only 
ceased to act, but have lost the susceptibility of renewed action. — 
See Hastings' Work, "Pauline Theology."* 

It is plain that these extracts all convey one and the same 
leading sentiment, viz., man has only a physical nature, and 
the soul or spirit, with all its attributes and developments, 
is merely a product or result of the operation L of the physi- 
cal machine. To rebuke our admiration and worship of the 
u human form divine," God has furnished in nature disgust- 
ing and terrible caricatures thereon, in the monkey tribe 

* This definition from Mr. Hastings' w@rk, reminds one of Ham- 
let's cloud — looks like a camel, and like a whale, or rather Bunyan's 
Mr. Facing-both ways— interpret it of the body, and it is a stale 
truism, but if of the spirit, it imports the same as the quotation from 
Volney 8, and is both false and unscriptural. 
4 



26 

and fearful gorilla. To this we may add the mutations to 
which it is ever subject, from the frailty of infancy through 
all the alternations of disease and infirmity, till a mass of 
carrion and a handful of dust completes the materialist's hu- 
man personality ; or to use their own phrase, "living, organ- 
ized dust." A machine which, kept in operation by oxygen 
from the atmosphere, grinds out that marvellous intellectual 
and spiritual result, the soul — a moral and accountable pro- 
duct of the pla}^ of the organs, which ceases when the ma- 
chine stops. While this silly hypothesis is left as a phan- 
tasm of atheism, it is harmless, but when good and prayer- 
ful men undertake to baptize it as gospel truth, and to iden- 
tify in this personality the image and pattern of the Divine 
Being, the aspect of the whole thing changes from absurd- 
ity to plasphemy. 

1. MATERIALISM WEIGHED BY TRUTH. 

If this erroneous system, in the light of reason exhibits 
such incongruity and absurdity, it is also, when tested by 
fact, seen to be mainly supported by mi statement or decep- 
tion ; this will be seen in quotation. Deception is prac- 
ticed here — First, by quoting from incompetent or unreliable 
writers as though good and unquestionable. Second, by 
copying solitary or disjointed sentences from good authori- 
ties to make out a point not contemplated or believed by 
the authors. I have before me now a work containing a 
quotation from Kitto, which not only conveys a false im- 
pression to the reader, but is a mean libel on that learned 
writer. Third, by quoting one sentence and ignoring many 
others which, if presented, would alter the drift or sense of 
the quotation. 

Wherever either course is resorted to it savors of decep- 
tion, and is quite injurious to the cause of truth. Doubt- 
less many honest but ignorant teachers have helped to ex- 
tend error by reiterating such misquotations, not being 
aware of their unreliability ; such teachers should remember 
that they are accountable to God for the faithful dispensa- 
tion of truth, and truth only. 

2. BY UNTRUTHFUL ASSERTIONS. 

Among the mistatements often circulated in support of 



27 

this doctrine we select and correct some of the most promi- 
nent and common : 

1st. It is not true that Plato, Zoroaster, or any other 
great name of antiquity, originated the doctrine of the "Im- 
mortality of the Soul." 

2nd. Nor yet is it true that the doctrine originated in 
any Pagan system, for every form of religious faith in the 
remotest parts of the earth recognized it in some form. * It 
is a latent conviction of the human mind written there 
originally by the finger of God, and though clouded by sin 
and disfigured by error, it was still there, ever and anon, 
thrusting forth its feeble tradition of a lost destiny, and a 
future regeneration. 

3d. Nor is it true that the doctrine was transplanted 
from Greek philosophy into the Christian system, for the 
doctrine of immortality ever constituted an essential ele- 
ment of Christian theology. Life and immortality are 
brought to light through the gospel. 

4th. It is not true that the great body of the true church 
ever adopted or held the materialistic dogmas. Every com- 
petent scholar will testify that it has ever been an excres- 
cence, and not an essential integrant in the Christian sys- 
tem. 

5th. It is not true that Luther and the great body of 
the reformers were believers in materialism, even if we ac- 
cept the schismatic Socinus, and some ethers of like stamp. 

6th. Neither is it true that the words die, death, or the 
equivalents in Hebrew, Greek or Latin, or any other lan- 
guage, signify the kk entire cessation of existence." 

7th. Nor is it true that the words perdition, destroy, 
perish, necessarily denote the "total extinction of being. ,; 
An hour spent in a careful search of the Scriptures, and a 
peep in a Lexicon will suffice to settle these points. | 

8th. The untruthful assertions respecting the teachings of 
Revelation on this subject will be considered in our analy- 
sis of scripture testimony. 

Why any teachers professing faith in the iminence of 
judgment should use, desire, or even consent unto, the 

*See Landis' able work; "Immortality." page 86:109. 
f See Rev. I. P. Warren's Tract, 



28 

slightest perversion of religious truth, is a question they 
must answer to their own consciences, as they must also 
soon answer at the judgment seat of Christ. 



♦ « » • ♦ 



CHAPTER IV. 

Materialism Examined by Scripture. 1st. Wrests and perverts the 
sacred text. — 2d. Is no part of the Gospel Message. — 3d. Is derog- 
atory to the Divine character and work as revealed in the Bible. 

1. In religious questions our decisive appeal as christians 
must ever be to the law anil to the testimony. The bible is 
man's only chart of eternal destiny, and only standard of 
truth and duty. Those w r ho wrest its sacred teachings "do 
it to their own destruction" — 2 Pet. 3:16. In scripture it 
is also styled "handling the word of God deceitfully." The 
advocates of the dead-sleeping theology claim that the bible 
is all on their side, as our extracts from their publications 
show. 

To wrest is to extort, distort, force. These terms well 
describe the processes by which they endeavor to make the 
word of God read in harmony with their theology. This is 
done — First, by sweeping assertions, at the outset, of 
what the scriptures do or do not teach ; second, by collating 
texts which are not collateral ; third, by elaborating one 
class of texts, and frittering away other and opposing pas- 
sages ; fourth, by false expositions ; fifth, by ignoring alto- 
gether texts bearing against their pet dogmas ; sixth, by 
keeping entirely out of sight very many facts and truths 
necessary to the elucidation of scripture terms and doc- 
trine — instance the terms life, death, die, immortality, so ul, 
spirit, grave, hell, &c. 



29 



The persistent resort to these methods may indeed be re- 
garded, in some instances, as the result of ignorance, but 
the utmost measure of true charity must withhold such con- 
sideration from others. This will be illustrated in our chap- 
ter (5th) on Scripture Testimony. 

2. This doctrine in its distinctive features is no part of 
the gospel message. The faithful messenger of the Son of 
God will deliver only his Master's message, nor has he a 
moral right to deliver another and different one in Christ's 
name. God will judge all those who pervert His Gospel. 
Gal. 1 : 8 — "Though we or an angel from heaven preach 
any other gospel than that which we have preached unto 
you, let him be accursed." The careful bible student who 
is at all conversant with the materialistic theory, will not fail 
to notice how unlike it is in its distinctive features to the 
teaching of our Lord and his apostles. Let us read the 
sermon on the mount, listen to the apostolic sermon on the 
day of pentecost, or St. Paul preaching at Antioch, or Thes- 
salonica ; read the Gospels and Epistles carefully. Do we 
find in any of these inspired communications a labored ef- 
fort to prove that a dead man is dead, (extinct) or that "all 
the dead are, until the resurrection, blotted out of exis- 
tence ;" that the spirit of man is air,vapor ; that a man's soul 
means his body ; that the soul dies with the body ; that Mes- 
siah had no existence previous to his birth in Bethlehem ; 
that his death also was entire ; that the Holy Spirit is merely 
influence? Do we find a solitary argument against Helen- 
ism or Platonism? Is there a single instance in all the New 
Testament where any of these points are stated or argued ? 
No, nothing of the kind, so little of such stuff indeed that 
the great body of the true church men who studied the bible 
on their knees, in mountain caves, in prisons and in death, 
failed to discover and believe it. And why ? Because the 
heresy is not there, it is no part of the gospel message. 
Those who teach this system of error derive it not from the 
great Teacher, but from mere human sources, and for such 
counterfeit preaching they must give account in the judg- 
ment. 

3 Materialism is derogatory to the Divine nature, char- 
acter and work, as revealed in the Scriptures. 



30 



The most conclusive evidence of the divine origin of the 
h >ly scriptures is found in their sublime revelations, re- 
specting the nature and attributes of the great God. Wheth- 
er the inspired penmen were kings, priests, or fishermen, 
their communications on this infinite subject exhibit a most 
wonderful unity, and a sublimity far transcending the high- 
est effort of the human intellect. From their testimony we 
learn that God is infinite and eternal, infinite in all his nat- 
ural and moral attributes, incomprehensible, omnipotent, 
immutable, omniscient, omnipresent ; infinite in wisdom, 
holiness, justice and goodness. From the scriptures we 
learn that He is the creator and supporter of matter and all 
material things. i hey teach us that matter in all its forms, 
whether dense or volatile, is but the plaything of Deity, 
without motion, order or process, until acted upon by the 
irresistible power oi the Divine wil.. He imposes on matter, 
and maintains in their operation all those laws by which 
every organism, every change and operation in every de- 
partment of His works is effected. Hence, He himself must 
be infinitely above the matter he has created, and the laws 
he has enacted to control it. God is infinite, matter is nec- 
essarily and forever finite. The Son of God who claimed 
that fc *no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to 
whom the Son shall reveal him," has revealed to us in four 
short words an infinite truth, "God is a i^pirit," and hence 
the sole fountain of Spiritual life. Idolatry is the worship 
of matter, either as God, or in the place of God ; either by 
abasing our appreciation of deity down to the plane of mat- 
ter and the laws that control it, or, by elevating the helpless 
mass in our thought to a participation in those spiritual at- 
tributes which constitute the essential perfection of Deity. 

Against this debasing process Jehovah w r arned the He- 
brew church, again and again. See Deut. 4 :15 — "Take heed 
to yourselves that ye make no image or likeness of any 
thing, for ye saw no manner ol similitude on the day the 
Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire." 
Idolatry like all sin commences in the ideal Hence the 
divine reproof to idolatrous Irsael, u Thou thoughtest I was 
altogether such an one as thyself." 

The ideal of materialism as exhibited by its exponents is of 



31 

this class ; they make no material idol indeed, but they have 
a material man who becomes extinct in death, a material 
Christ, who also died soul and body; and as the material 
man was mad in the Divine image, is a "partaker of the 
divine nature." find is invested with the same spiritual at- 
tributes (in kind) as God, the unavoidable inference is 
that in their idea, the divine nature is either reduced to the 
plane of mere matter, and the laws which control it, or else 
that the helpless material mass is elevated to a participa- 
tion in the very perfection of Deity. Out of this groveling 
appreciation of the nature of God. comes a habitual irrever- 
ence, an unbecoming familiarity of style in prayer and 
preaching which betrays a defection within. How often has 
been heard in tkeir public and social services language verg- 
ing closely on blasphemy. We say m>t this of all, for the 
style of some men's piety is better than their theology ; and 
many w T ho have been drawn into this error still retain the 
culture of a better system long after they have forsaken it. 
But materialism only and ever tends to dishonorable concep- 
tions of the nature, character, and work of the blessed God 
as revealed in the holy Scripture. 

The teachings of this system are equally derogatory to 
the character and w x ork of the Son of God. Some indeed 
of its prominent advocates have held publicly that our Lord 
had no real existence prior to his birth in Bethelem, and 
most believe, hold and teach that his death w r as entire, the 
positive testimony of Scripture to the contrary notwith with- 
standing. A single quotation from their published works 
will suffice here. — " Christ's soul was not left in the grave, 
then it must have been in the grave and dead. It did not 
die a spiritual death for that would be dead in sin ; it fol- 
lows then that his soul died a literal death." — Age of Gospel 
Light, by L. Cambell. 

In order to show more clearly the dishonor thus done to 
Him who took upon him our nature, let us collate a small 
part of the testimony of Scripture respecting Him: We 
have there presented a divine personage far above the na- 
ture of angels — sharing the especial glor}^ of Deity before the 
world was — creator and upholder of all things — who laid the 
foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of 
His hands — w T ho, when they perish and wax old, as doth a 



32 

garment, still remains unchangeably the same, and whose 
years fail wot ; who, passing clown through and by the an- 
gelic natures, voluntarily invested his divinity with the na- 
ture and conditions of fallen humanity — and at the appoint- 
ed hour voluntarily divested (laid down of himself) the 
physical life, and who again at the proper hour reinvests 
himself with that physical form, and who proclaims himself 
the bread of life which came down from heaven, whereof if 
a man eat he shall not die ; himself at once the only aliment 
and dispensary of spiritual life to the world. This wonder- 
ful, glorious, divine being — dead ! soul as well as body ! di- 
vinity as well ! buried ! blotted out of existence ! if these 
assumed expositors are to be trusted. Verily these mis- 
representations of the glorious Messiah are eminently dis- 
honoring to him in every aspect of his nature, character, 
and work, as exhibited in the Scriptures. 

The same condemnation lies against this erroneons sys- 
tem in regard to its teaching respecting the Spirit of God. 
Some prominent preachers have held publicly that the Holy 
Spirit is merely u influence," but the poisonous error strikes 
deeper than that, for the entire plan of redemption, as a 
moral system, and the work of the Holy Spirit therein, are 
rendered invalid and void thereby ; for, first, there cannot be 
moral government without a moral nature in the subjects, 
and second, there can be no moral nature without a spiritu- 
al nature — the one pre-supposes the existence and presence 
of the other, and " the phenomena of mind are totally dis- 
tinct from the known properties of matter."* That redemp- 
tion which consists in buying back and repairing a broken 
machine is not the redemption of the Bible, and is quite a 
different matter from the redemption of the soul from the 
condemnation, pollution, and fearful consequences of sin. 

To illustrate this point still further we repeat some of our 
quotations from their publications, comparing the same with 
scripture. Materialists assert that, u for the production of 
any mental and moral action there is required a body, brains, 
nerve, fibre, and bright red arterial blood." * * Again, 
" The whole man, save the breath, proceeds from the par- 
ents." Our Lord, on the contrary, has* taught, " That 



-Dr. Abercrombie. 



33 

which is born of the flesh is flesh," and " that which is born 
of the spirit is spirit." And again, " The children of God 
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of 
God." ki Again, The spirit itself beareth witness with our 
spirit that we are the children of God," aid if children 
then born of the spirit, and that which is born of the spirit 
is spirit. Materialism asserts "That man resembles the an- 
mals in these particulars — both are material, both are mor- 
tal, both have souls, both have spirits, and both are entirely 
dependent upon their organizations for all their mental phe- 
nomena." No spirit of God about it, then. With what, then, 
does the spirit of God bear reciprocal witness ! With air? 
breath? vapor? Again, concerning whom or w^hat is this 
mutual testimony given, represented by the pronoun u we"? 
The physical system ? That is born of the flesh, and is flesh. 
Those only are "children" who are born of the spirit. The 
spirit of God does not reciprocally testify with mere matter, 
much less testify to falsehood. Let as beware, lest like the 
wicked Pharisees we traduce and impugn the work of tke 
Holy Spirit. 

We add, in conclusion, that a system of doctrine which 
thus perverts the scriptures and dishonors the Divine Father, 
the blessed Messiah, and the work of the Holy Spirit, what- 
ever it may claim, cannot be the true doctrine of the bible. 



34 



CHAPTER V. 

Wkat saith the scriptures? A Digest and Topical Arrangement 
of Scripture Testimony on this most interesting and important 
subject. 

1, DIGEST. 

We have said, in previous* chapters, that the light of rev- 
elation alone illumines the dark outlook of death — that the bi- 
ble is man's only chart of eternal destiny, and only standard 
of religious truth. From its decisions Christianity admits of 
no appeal. From this sacred repository, too, does the de- 
parting believer derive support and consolation by the as- 
surance that 4k When absent from the body we shall be pres- 
ent with the Lord." And from thence, too, the blessed hope 
of salvation and glory at the appearing of the Son of God. 
Tne first is the vestibule ; the last, the temple itself. The 
"intermediate state" is like an ante-chamber, where the dis- 
robed soul waits in conscious, restful, blessed security, un 
til it shall be enrobed, "clothed upon" in resurrection glory, 
preparatory to its entrance into the glorious temple itself. 
It ought not to be disguised, and cannot be denied, that the 
modern evangelical church has, in its psalmody and pulpit 
service, enlarged and beautified the ante-chamber at the ex- 
pense of the temple, awarding to the believer all that ful- 
ness of salvation at death which the scriptures promise only 
at the appearing of Christ. As an offset to this perversion 
of holy things we have amongst us, now, as a type of chris- 
tian doctrine, this revivication of the materialistic dogmas 
of ancient pagan atheism, endorsed by some of the early 
errorists of the christian church, and in this matter we can 
realize the appropriateness of a trite old saying, "the reme- 
dy is worse than the disease." 

We have seen that God has guarded his revelation by the 
most solemn denunciations against all those who wrest or 
pervert it. In the last chapter (IV) we indicated several 



35 

ways in which the advocates of this error endeavor to make 
the word of God read in harmony with their theology. Each 
of the methods named involve more or less perveision of 
the scriptures, and what we there asserted will, in this chap- 
ter, be more fully illustrated. 

Let us now take up the inquiry, and endeavor to find the 
true solution. Do the holy scriptures teach that man has a 
spiritual nature, distinct from his physical, and which sur- 
vives the death of the body ? 

To this query the death-sleeping theology enters a posi- 
tive and emphatic "No ! a sweeping negative. Let us hear 
their testimony again. 

w 'No scripture or philosophy has ever yet been shown to 
prove the mind anything more than an attribute of the liv 
iug, organized dust."* See Age of Gospel Light, by Z. 
Campbell. 

Again, 'Tmmortal-soulism can be no longer sustained but 
at the expense of rejecting the word of God." Bible versus 
Tradition, by Ellis & Read. 

Again, k% A soul, in scripture phraseology, means an ani- 
mal, or creature, or life." Bible vs. Tradition. Ellis & 
Read . 

Again, * k The bible teaches that man. the soul as well as 
the body, dies, and that man is dependent on his resurrec- 
tion from the grave for all future existence." Intermediate 
State. H. Grew. 

Again, ^Our Lord and his apostles taught no such doc- 
trines as that the disembodied soul is the human personali- 
ty, and that the soul or spirit exists after death, in a state 
of consciousness ; but that, on the contrary, they taught the 
state of death to be a complete decease of conscious being." 
See a Work by I. P. Ham, published by the Materialists. 

These sweeping assertions in denial of the proposed query 
are but samples of what may be found interspersed through- 
out their publications, and often heard from their desks. 
They are either true or false. In behalf of the whole church 



*This very unique definition of "mind" is quite obscure. Does 
the writer mean that "mind" is an attribute of the dust, or of the 
organism, or of the life? If mind is an attribute of life will he ex 
plain what life is. 



36 



of God we pronounce them untrue ! Whether these writers 
and teachers knew better or not, they have had the oppor- 
tunity and means to learn the truth, and if they fail to dis- 
cover it, or if they proclaim errors, theirs is the responsibil- 
ity. 

From these untruthful asseverations we turn to the word 
of God, and find in its divine revelations a full solution, a 
demonstrative affirmation. Let us listen with childlike 
simplicity and reverence to its solemn utterances. In our 
use of texts we intend to offer only those which best express 
the leading thought of their several connections, and only 
so much as is necessary to convey that thought to the read- 
er. If in any instance we fail it will be our misUike. 

The testimony of the bible on this subject we propose to 
classify under appropriate heads. 

1st, The bible distinctly reveals the fact of the existence 
of angelic natures — spiritual beings, not air, breath, or va- 
por, but real beings, existing without any known necessary 
affiliation with matter, — beyond the ordinary cognizance 
of our senses — superior to man — endowed with spiritual at- 
tributes — of different orders, as angels, spirits, seraphs, 
watchers, principalities, powers, &c. These general names 
include also individualities, as Gabriel, &c. This fact, we 
think, will not be denied, and therefore we shall not attempt 
to prove it. 

2d, The bible clearly recognizes a duality in man ; not a 
double nature — two of a kind ; but invariably a duality — 
two different natures, in the human subject. Now this is 
just that which Materialists assort that the bible does not 
teach, and it is just that which it does demonstrably teach. 
Around this preposition we will arrange and exhibit all the 
scriptures requisite to a full development of the truth. We 
are not unmindful of the fact that some ancient and modern 
sages have recognized a triple nature in man — spirit, soul 
and body — a number once mentioned in scripture : 1 Thes. 
5 :23. Lord Brougham regarded the spiritual nature as two 
fold, viz : the intellectual and the active powers. He might 
have added one more, at least — the moral, and then we 
should have five components in the human unit. But we 
have nothing now to do with sub-divisions. The bible clearly 



37 



establishes a dualism — first, by investing man with a nature 
ike that of angels ;* that is by the possession of the same 
spiritual attributes. (An attribute is an inherent quality.) 
As our opponents have been very assiduous to prove that 
man is an animal, we admit it, and admit, also, the testimo- 
ny of inspiration, that man is also an angel — a developed 
animal enclosing an embryo angel ; both marred by sin — 
the animal fatally, the spirit contingently. In proof consid- 
er that throughout the sacred pages men and angels are 
spoken of as having intellectual, moral and spiritual endow- 
ments in common ; are identified alike in the 1 >ve, worship 
and service of God, and in the work of redemption ; have 
been identified in the same sin — '"rebellion" ; are represent- 
ed alike in the two great classes, good and evil ; are engag- 
ed in the same warfare, and by the repeated enunciations 
of the bible are reserved to a partnership, as good or evil, 
in the same relative destinies. 

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 

'"Thou hast made him (man) a little low r er than the an- 
gels." Ps. 8 :5. "Thy will be done in earth (by men) as 
it is in heaven" (by angels). Matt. 6 :10 ""I fell down to 
worship at the feet of the angel which shewed me these 
things. Then saith he unto me, see thou do it not, for I am 
thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets." Rev. 
22 :8-9, and 19 :10. "Know ye not that we shall judge an- 
gels?" 1 Cor. 6:3. "Let all the angels of God worship 
him" (Messiah). Heb. 1 :6. "Are not they (angels) min- 
istering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be 
heirs ©f salvation?" Heb. 1 :4. Read, also. Acts 27:23, 
and Matt. 25 :41 . "I say unto you there is joy in the pres- 
ence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
Luke 15 :10. "Which things (human salvation) the angels 
desire to look into." 1 Pet. 1 :12. "For by him (Christ) 
were all things created, whether thrones or dominions, prin- 
cipalities or powers." Col. 1 :16. Also Heb. 12 :22-23. 
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against 
principalities, against powers, against wicked spirits in high 

*This point will probably be admitted by many sincere and can 
did Materialists, hut the admission is fatal to their system. 



38 

(heavenly) places." Eph. 6:12. Consult Eph. 3 :9-l0, 1 
Pet. 2 :22. 2 Pet. 2 :4, Jude 6. Angels are called, also, 
saints, Dan. 8 :13, and in several other places; and good 
men are still oftener so styled. We have before us scores 
of texts illustrative of the same point, viz : man's identifi- 
cation with angels in attributes, work, moral character and 
destiny, whether good or evil. This identification clearty 
proves a dual nature in man — animal and angelic These 
will suffice for candid inquiry. 

2d, The severality of man's physical nature is clearly re- 
vealed in scripture by specific and appropriate names. 
Names or nouns represent persons, places or things. The 
following names are used interchangeably: body, flesh* out- 
ivard man, sheath, vessel, tabernacle* earthly house, house 
of clay, members* flesh and blood* hedge* fence* clothing* 
frame* carcass, dust, corpse. The general significance of 
these names is not of person, but place and thing. The 
relative idea is that the animal or physical foim is a resi- 
dence,* inclosure, or receptacle, while the spirit is the resi- 
dent or occupant. 

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
ground." Gen. 2 :7. %k O God, the God of the spirits of all 
flesh." Num. 16 :22. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit 
in the midst of my body," (Chald. sheath). Dan. 7:15. 
'"That every one of you should know how to possess his ves- 
sel in sanctification." 1 Thess 4 :4. "The children are 
partakers of flesh and blood." Heb. 2:14. u Flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth cor- 
ruption inherit incorrupti on." 1 Cor. 15 :50. "That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh." John 3 :6. "I keep under my 
body and bring it under subjection," &e. 1 Cor. 19 :27. 
-'I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir 
you up by way of remembrance." 2 Pet. 1 :13. "Let us 
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." 
2 Cor. 7:1. "Who shall change our vile body,"^ &c. Phil 



*Some of these names are used to designate the whole man, 
or the race. Such uses are exceptional, and we do not ask the read 
er to accept such, but we find by the connection the true sense of 
the terms. 

fThe soul of the believer is never so termed. 



39 



3:21. fcfc The Lord knowethour/?'a??ie; he remembereth that 
we arc dust" Ps. 103 :14. u Thou hast made me as the clay, 
and wilt thou bring me to the dust again?" Job 10 :9 and 11. 
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved." 1 Cor. 5:1, Also Job 4:19, and 1 Cor, 
15:53. "I, also, am formed out of the clay." Job 33 :6. 
See, also, Rom. 8 :10 

Our succeeding quotations will more fully confirm this 
second preposition. 

Section 3d. Revelation clearly reveals this duality in 
man's nature, by its recognition of the severality of the soul 
or spirit. This recognition is, first, by specific names ; sec- 
ond, by its attributes ; third, location ; fourth, origin ; fifth, 
comparison. Under each point we shall collate the appro- 
priate scriptures, and it will be seen that our quotations to 
each will often prove all the rest ; but we will endeavor to 
avoid unnecessary repetition. 

1st, by names. These names, in our common version, are 
soul, spirit, mind, boioels, heart, reins, inner man, inward- 
man, hidden man, man of the heart, belly, &c. We do not 
give names 10 non-entities, neither does the Holy Spirit. A 
name or noun represents a person, place, or thing. These 
names are used interchangeably in ^scripture, and they do 
not represent a place or thing, but an intelligent agent ; a 
personality. 2d, this is shown by the attributes, exercises, 
&c, ascribed to that personality the names represent. In- 
stance, in our quotations, it is said to love, fear, hope, un- 
derstand, choose, to repent, be conscious of guilt, pardon,* 
right and wrong, to seek God, to be contrite, wise, to be 
susceptible of spiritual culture, &c, &c. Now, each of these 
exercises necessarily implies the existence of a personality, 
endowed with corresponding faculties and powers ; hence, 
every passage in all the book of God which asserts or im- 
plies an intelligent, moral or spiritual exercise in man, is an 
effectual quotation to establish the point that man has a dis- 
tinct spiritual nature, until these astute theologians can de- 
monstrate that a stone can will, or a machine can reason or 
love. 



*Will the ''composite unit," or atmospheric air, or its undiscover- 
ed element meet these conditions? 



40 



SEVERALITY OF THE SPIRIT. SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 

" There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Al- 
mighty giveth him understanding." Job 82 :8. "With my 
spirit within me will I seek Thee early." Isa. 26 :9. ''Be- 
hold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hid 
den part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom" Ps. 51 :6. 
•'Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord 
iooketh on the heart" 1 Sam 16:7. "That He would 
grant you to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the 
inner man " Eph. 3:16. W, A broken and a contrite heart, 
O God, Thou wilt not despise." Ps. 51 :17. "Glorify God 
in your body and your spirit, which are God's " 1 Cor. 6 : 
20. "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So 
then with the mind I myself serve the law of God." Rom. 
7 :25. "He is not a Jew wHch is one outwardly, * * 
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is 
that of the heart in the spirit" Rom. 2 :28. Consult, also, 
Ps. 7:9, and 26:2, Rev. 2 : 23, Acts 17:11, Rom. 8 :7, 1 
Chron. 28 :9, Isa. 24 :3. 2 Cor. 3 :14, Phil. 4 :7, Ps. 34 :18, 
and 2 Cor. 12 :2-3. 

These quotations and references represent a large class of 
scripture texts, each of which recognizes by name an "enti- 
ty," to which is ascribed intelligent moral or spiritual exer- 
cises. That entity is the soul or spirit — the personality of 
the man. 

3d, The severality of the soul or spirit is indicated by its 
location. 

Many of the preceding citations clearly locate the heart, 
spirit or mind within the corporeal frame. This location of 
the spirit, so common throughout the scriptures, is more than 
suggestive ; it is demonstrative, for if there is one thing in- 
closed within another and different thing then there must be 
a duality, or language has no significance. We add further 
testimony. 

"The Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth 
the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man 
within him." Zech. 12 :1. "My spirit is overwhelmed with- 
in me ; my heart within me is desolate." Ps. 143 :4. "Did 
not our hearts burn ivithin us while he talked with us !" &c. 
Luke 24 :32. "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, be- 



41 



ing burdened." 2 Cor. 5 :4. "Whilst we are at home in 
the body we are absent from the Lord." 2 Cor. 5 -.6. "Cre- 
ate in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." 
Ps. 51 :10. See, also, Ps. 42 :11 and 43 :5, and 2 Cor. 12 : 
1-2. "For what man knoweth the things of a man save the 
spirit of a man which is in him?" 1 Cor. 2 :11. 

The location of the soul or spirit within the corporeal 
frame is so often stated that further quotation is deemed un- 
necessary. We remark here, however, that nature is full of 
illustrations of this phase of bible theology We instance 
the fruit with its pulpy exterior, soon to be devoured or de- 
cay, and its stone or kernel formed within it, which retains 
its vitality for years, a prophecy of an enduring destiny. 
Such is the soul of man. 

4. The severality of man's spiritual nature is also clearly 
shown in scripture by its different origin. We use the 
word origin in a qualified sense, "All things are of God," 
but the creation and propagation of the physical is one 
thing and the "Forming the spirit of man within him," is 
quite another thing. We know not enough yet of the laws, 
nature and conditions of spiritual existence to speak intelli- 
gently on this subject, hence we confine ourselves to the 
words of revelation, content with the revealed fact that the 
soul and body, although both from the creating hand of 
God, come into being in an entirely different manner. The 
difference is what we claim. 

SCRIPTURE PROOF. 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man 
became a living soul. — Gen. 2 :7. 

This text records the carrying out of a purpose consider- 
ed in a divine council. — See Chap. 1 :26 ; compared with 
Isaiah 40 : 12, 14. This purpose included three points : First 
the creation of man ; second, the model, in our image, after 
our likeness ; third, the object, to have dominion. The text 
records in the carrying out of this decision ; first, the forma- 
tion of man's body, and second, the breathing into him of 
the breath of life. The miserable theory which teaches that 
6 



42 



this breath of life* was the same element of atmospheric air 
which had been breathed in by animals of the lowest type 
for days before man's creation, is too shallow to be enter- 
tained for a moment, for if so, then man's participation in 
the divine likeness inheres either in that which was formed 
of the dust, or that which was breathed in from the atmos- 
phere, or both, and either assumption is blasphemous. The 
New Testament teaches us that man is a u partaker of the 
Divine Nature." 

SCRIPTURAL TESTIMONY. 

Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth 
the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man 
within him. — Zech. 12:1. 

The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the 
Almighty hath given me life. — Job 33 :4. 

As many as received him to them gave he power to be- 
come the sons of God even to them who believe on his 
name, which were born not of blood nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.f — John 1 :12-13. 

That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born 
of the spirit is spirit. — John 3:6. 

Wehave had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and 
we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in 
subjection to the Father of Spirits and live? — Heb. 12 :9. 

Under this head we also class all those texts which assert 
or imply a fundamental renovation of the soul or spirit, in- 
dependent of the body itself ; instance : Create in me a clean 
heart and renew a right spirit within me. — Ps. 51 :10. 

If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature. — 2 
Cor. 5:17. 



*See the works of Materialists; Brewer, Ellis and Read, Grant in 
the Crisis, &c. 

fThe regeneration or being born again, does not indicate the iin- 
partation of a new spiritual nature not possessed before, but as the 
second or new birth is a spiritual birth, effected by the Spirit of 
God, so it is clear that the first or creative birth was also a spiritual 
creation, heuce the language, "Except a man be born again." Man's 
original spiritual nature was ruined at the fall, (not destroyed) and 
regeneration is the inauguration of a fundamental, restorative pro- 
cess for the soul, while the body returns to the dust. 



48 

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. — Eph. 
2:10. 

Put on the new man which after God (his image) is creat- 
ed in righteousness and true holiness. — Eph. 4 :24. 

As these fundamental changes proceed without a corres- 
pondent process in the body, it is manifest that there is a 
difference in nature and origin. 

5. The Scripture establishes the duality in man's nature 
by its comparisons of the two. In this direction we find a 
wide field of evidence opened up to us, evidence if possible 
more conclusive than that which has already been consider- 
ed, for comparison necessarily pre-supposes plurality : we 
cannot compare one thing without another with which to 
conduct the comparison. This entire field we cannot ex- 
pect to develope and exhibit ; we can only confine our at- 
tention to the main features of this part of our subject, add- 
ing a few clear and sufficient testimonies from the word of 
God, but sufficient for every sincere inquirer. 

The scriptural comparisons relate to — first, law and process 
of development; second, superiority of one, inferiority of 
the other ; third, to sympathy, two natures acting in har- 
mony ; fourth, antagonism, two natures in conflict or war- 
fare ; fifth, by a different condition in and after death. 

1 st, Law and process of development. 

All forms of material life, whether beast, bird or vegeta- 
ble, progress from the incipient stage to a specific develop- 
ment in obedience to specific organic law, different law, 
different process, different result ; feed a bird and fish from 
the same food, the one will still develop a bird, the other a 
fish. The difference is the more striking if we find the ali- 
ment for the growth of the two natures totally different. 
Now these features all stand out distinctly in the testimony 
of revelation on this subject, and the full elucidation of this 
one point would occupj 7 all our remaining pages ; we can only 
offer a synopsis. We have said in the explanatory chapter 
that if Christianity be not a system designed and adapted 
for the renovation of a fallen spiritual nature, we shall 
search its records in vain to find any design whatever there- 
in. We repeat the sentiment here, that spiritual culture 
is an essential and predominating feature of New Testa- 
ment teaching, hence the language, i4 Ye are God's husband- 



44 

ry," "Ye are God-building," applicable alike to the growth 
of the individual soul or the entire church, like body, like 
members. 

For the growth of our physical frame, God appointed the 
fruit of the tree, the herb, and the flesh of the animals ; this 
aliment by the operation of a specific law sustains the de- 
velopment to its meridian and decay. But the human soul, 
by a totally different aliment, under the operation of a high- 
er law "increaseth with the increase of God." The parable 
of the sower and seed (Matt. 13 :3) furnishes an illustration 
in point ; here the field or area is not the world (cosmos) 
but the human mind, as that alone is the recipient of the 
seed — divine truth. The reception, germination, failure or 
fruitage, are all and only in the soul or mind, the body re- 
maining unchanged, or hastening on under its own law of 
process to its decay. Please read — " Though our outward 
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. — 
2 Cor., 4 :16. "Man doth not live by bread only, but by ev- 
ery w r ord that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth 
man live." Deut. 8 :3. "This is life eternal that they 
might knoiv* thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
thou hast sent." John 17 :3. "But grow in grace and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 
Pet., 3 :18. Read also Isa. 40 :31 and Jer. 3 :15. "Beloved 
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in 
health, even as thy soul prosperetrr" 3 John, ver. 2. 
"Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are 
dead." "I am the living bread which came down from 
heaven ; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever." 
John 6 :49-51. "Sanctify them through the truth, thy word 
is truth" John 17:17. When we were in (under the con- 
trol of) the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law 
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." 
Rom. 7:5. Read also the entire context. "Ye have put 
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the 
image of Him that created him. Col. 3 :10. "I beseech you 
brethren that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, * 
* and be ye transformed by (according to) the renewing 
of your mind." Rom. 12:2. This language of the apostle 

*The aliment fer the Spirit is Divine knowledge. 



45 

is explicit, as if he had said, your mind is renewed, your 
body is not ; now make the renewed mind the master, and 
coerce, sacrifice, transform the service of the old body to 
a holy service, by making it conform to the inward re- 
newing. Again, to the same point read Rom. 6:13-19". 
u They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its pas- 
sions and lusts." Gal. 5 :24. %w Birt speaking the truth in 
love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, 
even Christ." Eph. 4:15. **So is the kingdom of God as 
if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep 
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and 
grow up he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth 
forth fruit of herself ; first the blade, then the ear, after that 
the full corn in the ear." Mark 4 :26-28. 

These and like passages do not refer solely to the growth 
of the church. As well assert that the vast coral reefs exist 
and grow entirely independent of the existence and growth 
of the coral insect. But in this case, whether the church or 
individual is indicated, our citations fully show that it is 
the mind or spirit which is under culture, and not the body. 
We have not space for a tithe of our quotations, and must 
leave further inquiry with the candid reader. 

2nd. The scriptural comparisons also fully show two 
distinct natures in man. by asserting the superiority of the 
one (spiritual) and the inferiority of the other. 

Our quotations have already largely illustrated these 
points, and to present all the testimony would burden our 
page with repetitions ; let us recall some texts and present 
others. We have already seeij that while the sjiirit is will- 
ing the flesh is weak. That our body is termed "a vile 
body," while the renewed soul is styled holy and Godlike, 
that the animal nature is not and cannot be subject to the 
law of God, while it is with the mind or spirit we do serve 
the law of God. Again, it is the spirit which is born of 
God, and bears the divine image, while the body is made of 
the dast, formed of the clay, and returns to the dust again ; 
and in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. 

Further consider "that our physical nature is the avenue 
by which infirmity, temptation and adversity come upon us." 
Gal. 4 :13-14, Heb. 13 :3. Again, u The spirit of a man will 
sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear ?" 



46 

Frov. 18 :14. "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts ^ 
who hath given understanding to the heart?" Job '28 ;36. 
See also Gen. 6 :3. Again, it is the soul or heart only that 
commits sin, (a fearful superiority) read, " Shall I give my 
first bora for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the 
sin of my soul? Micah 6 :7. Again, vW From within, out of 
the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica- 
tion, murder, theft," &c. Mark 7:21. Our subsequent 
articles will illustrate this superiority more fully. 

3d. The Bible indicates the duality in man's nature by 
recognizing a sympathy between the two, first before con- 
version and in the service of sin. 

Read, "We also all had our conversation in times past, 
in the lusts of out flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and 
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even 
as others." Ephesians 2 :3. Wherefore God gave them up 
to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to 
dishonor their own bodies between themselves," Rom. 1 :24. 
"Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto 
lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness." 
Ephes, 4 : 19. Sometimes we find a temporary harmony be- 
tween the flesh and spirit even in the service of God. Please 
read, "O God thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my 
soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee. Ps. 63 :1. 
"My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Ps 
84. 2. Read also Ps. 73 :26— Rom. 6:19. 

4. Revelation also exhibits the duality by the antagon- 
ism — two natures in conflict. 

It is a trite old saying, "It takes two to quarrel" ; true 
conversion is a disruption of the amicable relations previ- 
ously existing between the two natures ; the mind or soul 
has been renewed, the body is unchanged, hence the warfare. 
This conflict could not be if man is a composite* unity. 
A unit cannot fight without an antagonist. Read, "Dearly 
beloved, I beseech you abstain from fleshly lusts which war 
against the soul.' 9 1 Pet. 2:11. "I delight in the law of 
God, after the inward man, but I see another in my members 
warring against the law of my mind." Rom. 7 :23. Again, 
"I keep under my body and bring it into subjection." 1 



*See Eld. Grant in the California discussion. 



47 

Cor. 9 :27. kw For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and 
the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one 
to the other." Gal. 6:17. '-The carnal (fleshy) mind is 
enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. "If ye live after the 
flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body ye shall live." Rom. 8:13. a He that 
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." Gal. 
6 :8. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the 
earth. Col. 3 :5. From whence come wars and fighting 
among you, come they not hence even of your lusts which 
war in your members? James 4:1. 

Under this head we class, though we do not copy, all the 
passages which express sorrow, grief, self-abhorrence, con- 
trition, loathing one's self for sin and wrong doino. Every 
such text illustrates and proves that the spirit is in conflict. 
To this point please read 2 Cor. 7:11, and Rom. 7 :24. 

5th. The scriptures we now adduce establish the duality 
claimed, by their contrasts between the two natures in 
death. 

This is the most conclusive, as well as interesting phase 
of the entire subject ; conclusive, if the bible clearly teach- 
es that death to the body is extinction, and that the soul or 
spirit survives in a conscious existence — for then the ques- 
tion is settled by divine authority, and all the subterfuge, 
all the superficial argumentation and noisy demonstration 
of materialists from Maine to California must go by the 
board. The evidence is also intensely interesting as it 
comes home to every thoughtful mind, to those who 

"Walk solemn, thoughtful on the silent shore 
Of that dread ocean they must sail so soon. 

No truly pious, reflecting mind can contemplate annihila- 
tion or extinction with complacency even though he accepts 
the idle "thesis" that extinction does not destroy identity. 
To all such the language of the poet is full of significance : 

"For who to dumb forgetful ness a prey, 
This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, 
Left the warm precmts of life's cheerful ray, 
Nor cast a longing lingering look behind?" 

There is nothing elevating or refining in the dogmas of 
Materialists ; their persistent effort has been to prove that 



48 

themselves and everybody else have only a beast nature* ; 
hence, their advocacy of entire sanctification borders on the 
anomalous, if not the ludicrous. Such a sanctification must 
be that of a beast only ; indeed, this whole system involves 
the letting down of the entire christian platform with all 
its doctrines, motives, promises, hopes, and redemption, to 
the plane of mere matter. Not such were the aspirations 
of the saints of old and new Testament times, not such the 
appreciations of the noble men of later times, and the good 
men of the last century, who left us such a legacy of holy 
example, earnest labor, instructive writings, and inspiring 
hymns. Among these sings the half inspired Watts : 

''Absent from flesh! Then rise my soul, 

Where feet nor wings could ever climb. 
****** 

I go where God and glory shine; 
His presence makes eternal day. 
My all that's mortal I resign, 
For angels wait and point my way." 

The testimony of scripture on the point now before us 
presents two distinct features. First, what it affirms re- 
specting the death of the body ; and second, what it teaches 
respecting the soul or spirit, in and after death. Let us 
look at the questions separately. 

1 . What is death to the body ? 

On this question a few passages only will be adduced to 
show that which all know to be true, viz., death to the body 
is total extinction, unless the natural process be unnatural- 
ly arrested, "Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thouf re- 
turn." Gen. 8 :19. "All flesh shall perish together, and 
man shall turn unto dust. Job 34 :15. "All are of the dust, 
and all turn to dust again." Eccles. 3 :20. "Our outward 
man perisheth." 2 Cor. 4:16. Also Job 21 :26, 2 Sam. 14 : 
14, 2 Cor. 5 :1, Ps. 49 :10 and 30 :9, Job 19-26, 1 Cor. 5 :S, 
&c. 



*"Man resembles the animals in these particulars, both are mater- 
ial, both mortal, both have souls, both have spirits, and both are 
entirely dependent on their organization for all their mental phen- 
omena." Thos. Heed's work, published by the Materialists, 
f The familiar couplet, 

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
Was not spoken of the soul," 
is quite scriptural although not in the scriptures. 



49 



Let the inquirer keep in mind that death to the body is 
annihiliation, and it will simplif} 7 our further inquiry. 

2. What does the bible teach respecting the soul or spir- 
it in and after death? 

We notice first that the inspired writers clearly recognize 
the existence of three distinct receptacles or conditions alter 
death under the terms hell, pit, grave, paradise : the first is 
the literal grave or tomb, the place for the dead body ; proof, 
Ps. 49 :14, %t Like sheep they are laid in the grave. " Also, 
Luke 16 :22, u The rich man died and was buried." The 
second is the receptacle of departed spirits, called Prison 
in 1 Pet. 3 :10, and Paradise in Luke 23 :43, according to 
the character of the inmates Proof, Gen. 38 :35. where 
Jacob, supposing Joseph's body to be in the belly of an evil 
beast, exclaims in his sorrow, "X will go down into the 
grave, (i. e. the place of the departed) unto my son mourn- 
ing." The third is the place of the final punishment of the 
wicked ; proof, Mat. 10 :28, "Fear him who is able to destroy 
both soul and bod}' in hell." We might add largely to our 
proof texts of these points, but if the candid reader will 
keep these distinctions in mind further proof will be seen 
as we proceed. 

Again, in scripture the soul or spirit in death is not said 
to be extinct, or to cease to be, bur. on the contrary, it is 
said to remove, depart, return, rest, be gathered, reunited,* 
given up, yielded up, to commit and commend itself to God, 
be unclothed, to put >if its tabernacle, be away from the 
body, to be in the divine presence, be with Christ, to pray, 
wait, mourn, remember, converse, and more than all it is 
represented as neither unconscious or asleep. All these 
features stand out fully in our quotations ; we class them as 
follows : 

1st. Those which speak of the action of the soul in 
death. a Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a 
good old age, and was gathered to his fathers." Gen. 25 :8. 
"And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered 
to his people." Gen. 35 :29. u And Jacob yielded up the 
ghost, and was gathered to his people." Gen. 49 :33. "And 



*Tlie inter community of departed spirits is very often spoken of 
by inspiration. Why? 

7 



50 

Jesus, when he had cried with a loud voice, yielded up the 
ghost." Mat. 27 :50, also Mark 15 :37. "And when Jesus 
had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands 
I commend my spirit." Luke 23 :46. "And they stoned 
Stephen, ealling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus receive 
my spirit." Acts 7 :59. "Knowing that shortly I must put 
off this my tabernacle." 1 Pet. 1 :14. By the phrase 
"yielding up the spirit," we are not to understand the mere 
breathing out of the last gasping fetid breath, like a dying 
beast, but the soul resigning itself to the keeping of that 
divine custodian from whom it came at first. As this re- 
signation is utter, final and entire, hence the language Ps. 
116 :15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
His saints," an assurance that would be worse than mockery 
if death is a total cessation of being, and but little better 
than mockery if it were an unconscious vacuum. 

2d. Those which speak of death to the soul or spirit as 
a departure, separation. &c, a part only of this numerous 
class will be offered. Read, "And it came to pass as her 
soul was in departing." Gen. 85 :18. "And Jacob said, I 
will go down into the grave unto my son." Gen. 37:35. 
"And behold this day I am going the way of all the earth." 
Josh. 23 :14. "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to 
me." 2 Sam. 12 :23. "The spirit shall return to God who 
gave it." Eccles. 12 :7. "Lord, now lettest thou thy ser- 
vant depart in peace." Luke 2: 29. "The widows stood 
by Peter weeping and showing the garments which Dorcas 
made while she was with them" Acts 9 :39. The time of 
my departure is at hand." 2 Tim. 4 :6. "I have a desire 
to depart and be with Christ." Phil. 1 :23. "Merciful men 
are taken away ." Isa. 57:1. 

3d Class. Those texts which refer to the location,* re- 
unity, condition, inter-community, &c, of the spirit during 
the interim. We quote the passages indiscriminately. 

Remark — There are three distinct facts noted in the old 
Testament, in connection with the death of the patriarchs 
and others, beside their burial. First, the giving up the 



*It is not necessary to our argument, that we be able to show 
1 'where"; it is enough that the word of God assigns * 'locality-' to 
the departed, in the body before death; in Hades, after death. 



51 

ghost or spirit ; second, their death ; third, their reunity, or 
gathering to their people, or sleeping with their fathers 

This reunity is not burial together, for Abraham was 
buried in Hebron, his father Terah, in Haran, his elder an- 
cestry in Ur, places 300 miles apart, but it is a gathering in 
the receptacle of departed spirits. 

Please read again our citations respecting the patriarchs, 
&c. Also read, "So David slept with his fathers, and was 
buried in the city of David." 1 Kings 2:10. Rehoboam 
and Jehosophat slept with their fathers, and were buried 
with their fathers. 1 Kings, 14 :31, and 2 Chron. 21 :1. 

Asa and Manasseh each slept with their fathers, but one 
was buried in his own sepulchre, the other in his own house. 
So also the instances of Solomon, Uzziah, Jotham, Abaz, 
&c., in all these the inspired historian keeps up a well de- 
fined distinction between the place of burial, and the re- 
ceptacle of the departed spirits. 

Again, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth,* and they 
laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead." Luke 
8:52. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." John 11:11-14, 
- 'Lazarus is dead " "The righteous is taken away from the 
evil. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, 
each one walking in his uprightness." Isa. 57 :2. "Blessed 
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, yea 
saith the spirit that they may rest from their labors, and 
their works do follow them." Rev. 14:13. "Ye are come 
to the spirits of just men made perfect." Heb. 12 :23. 
"Jesus said unto him, (the thief) verily I say unto thee, to- 
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Luke 23 :43. 

The materialists to neutralize the force of this, the last 
sentence but two that fell from the lips of the dying Saviour, 
contend that the comma should be placed after the words 
"To-day," instead of before them. To this we reply, that 
is a very weak system of doctrine which will be overthrown 
by the location of a comma. It is further urged that there 
is no such point in the Greek ; very well, take it away then, 
it is but a sign, the sign of a pause, but you cannot take 



*In scripture usage the terms sleep and slept, do not refer to the 
dead body, that decays, but to the reposing spirit, resting, yet (as we 
shall see) not unconscious. 



52 



away the pause, the sense requires it, and requires it just 
where the offending comma stands. Referring to this pro- 
posed trans-position, Dean Alford remarks, " Considering 
that it not only violates common sense, but destroys the 
force of our Lord's promise, it is surely something worse 
that silly " Let our opponents consider that if their flimsy 
objection is not valid, this declaration of the Son of God 
stands opposed to all their sweeping denials, in all its sol- 
emn significance. 

4. In this the last class we give some of those texts 
which clearly show that the soul not only survives the de- 
cay of the body, but is neither asleep or unconscious. They 
will also confirm our previous positions. 

"I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain 
for the word ot God, and for the testimony which they held ; 
and they cried with a loud voice saying, ''•How long, O 
Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our 
blood on them that dwell on the earth ? And white robes 
were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto 
them (they were not asleep or unconscious) that they should 
rest yet for a little season," <fcc. Rev. 6:9-11. Again, 
u For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we 
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house 
which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we shall 
not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do 
groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, 
but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of 
life. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that 
whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the 
Lord. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be 
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." 
2 Cor. 5 :l-8. 

This quotation is both illustrative and conclusive. The 
train of thought should be traced from the 7th verse of the 
previous chapter, (4th) where the body is termed an "earth- 
en vessel," in the 10th verse it is "the body," and our ''dy- 
ing body," in the 11th it is our "mortal flesh," in the 16th 
verse it is our "outward man" perishing by its own inherent 



53 

law of decay, while the "inward man" by another law grows 
by daily renewal independent of, ar.d contrary to, the decay 
of the perishing body. In our citation, chapter 5, verse 1 , 
the subject is continued. Mere our *■ mortal flesh" is styled 
" our earthly house or tent." soon to be dissolved, in 
the 4th verse it is a tabernacle, clothing, mortality, in the 
6th verse it is "our home in the body," from which we are 
"absent", in the 8th verse, in which our works for judgment 
are wrought, in the 10th verse, and in verse 16th, twice it is 
"the flesh." 

The resurrection bod}', in our quotation, is "our heavenly 
house of eternal abode" ; the two houses are not strictly 
identical for they are radically unlike. The proprietor of 
the two houses is still the same ■•■personality," represented 
by the pronoun "we" ; whether groaning in the "earthly 
house." or naked, absent therefrom and "present with the 
Lord," or clothed upon with the "house from heaven," still 
living, still conscious, still appreciating the comparative 
blessedness of the divine presence when "absent from the 
body," and still under the same law of spiritual life ; and 
the drift of inspired thought in the quotation presents and 
admits of no "unconscious" interim or vacuum in the entire 
process. To the same point read again, "I am in a strait 
betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ 
which is far better." Phil. 1: 23. Not unconscious then. 

"Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy 
coming ; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief 
ones of the earth, it hath raised up from their thrones all the 
kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto 
thee, art thou become like unto us? They shall narrowly 
look upon thee and consider thee, saying, is this the man 
that made the earth tremble, that did shake kingdoms"? 
Isa. 14 :9-16, and Ezek. 32 :18. "The rich man also died 
and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in 
torment, * * and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in 
his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have 
mercy on me and send Lazarus, &c. And Abraham said, 
Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy 
good things, &c. Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, fath- 
er, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house," &c. 
Luke 16 :30. 



54 

On these quotations we remark that the inspired writers 
clearly recognize the existence of a separate or intermedi- 
ate state, by the terms grave, pit, hell, or paradise. This 
conviction of their' s underlies and comes out in their in- 
spired communications, and inasmuch as the holy spirit has 
thus endorsed it by weaving into the texture of revealed 
truth, it is therefore substantially true ; and it is worse than 
trifling to argue that such scriptures are merely figurative 
or parabolic language. If figurative what is the figure, and 
what does it represent? If there be no such thing as 
the " separate state." why should Inspiration use figures to 
represent that which has no existence whatever? Or why 
should Infinite Wisdom take something to illustrate 
nothing ? 

Again, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the 
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being 
put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit. By 
which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, 
which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suf- 
fering of God waited in the days of Noah," &c. 1 Pet. 3 :18. 
"For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that 
are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the 
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Ibid 4 :6. 
See also Romans 10 :7, and Eph. 4 :9-l0. 

On these texts we remark that able and thorough criticism 
has established the fact that the first and obvious significa- 
tion of our English rendering is identical with that of the 
original language which the Holy Ghost has given us by 
the pen of the apostle, and exhibits three important facts. 
First, that when the flesh (body) of Christ was dead, his 
human soul or spirit survived that death ; second, by or in 
that spirit he went into Hades and preached to the spirits 
of dead men ; third, that the object of his divine mission 
there was to equalize God's great purpose of judgment and 
mercy in the redemption which he had just completed on 
the cross, and the demonstrative inference is, "that the hu- 
man spirit in death is neither extinct, unconscious or asleep." 



55 



CHAPTER VL 

TO THE READER. RECAPITULATION. CONCLUSION. 

Christian reader, we have thus completed our selections 
(a mere tithe) of scripture testimony in support of the sev- 
eral points considered. We have endeavored so to present 
it as to avoid a weary prolixity, and yet exhibit the true 
drift, volume and direction of inspired thought in each of 
our quotations. If we have failed in any instance it is our 
mistake ; we think we have not essentially misrepresented 
a single text, and no quibbling about the precise usage of 
occasional words can alter the current of thought and fact 
they exhibit. If our citations do not teach the several 
points presented then language has no reliable significance. 
The same treachery which has been used to wrest these 
scriptures, would nullify the promise of a resurrection, and 
every other promise and doctrire contained in the Bible, 
leaving us to the darkness and doubt of our own vain spec- 
ulations. 

In retracing our subject, let us for a moment cite some of 
those rules which define and divide probable from positive, 
or demonstrative evidence. Thus, the probable is defined 
as that which is susceptible of proof, or which is supported 
by better argument or evidence than can be brought against 
it. Demonstration is to prove by induction, to establish so 
as to exclude the possibility of reasonable doubt. Further, 
indirect demonstration is that which proves a proposition to 
be true by showing that the supposition of its falsity in- 
volves absurdity. Direct or positive demonstration is that 
which exhibits the direct and certain proof of the proposi- 
tion in question. We think every candid christian mind 
should accept the preponderance of evidence as the basis of 
opinion, and scriptural demonstration as the basis of relig- 
ious faith. — "Thy w©rd is truth." 



56 

Upon these data we have shown the falsity of materialism 
by the many absurdities necessarily involved therein ; that 
is negative demonstration. We have shown by ttie scrip- 
tares that man has a dual nature — a spiritual and physical — 
by a distinct class of names for each ; that is demonstration. 
And by recognizing the one as a person, the other as a 
thing, that is demonstration. Further, by locating the one 
within the other, by recognizing for each a separate origin, 
by instituting comparisons between the two, b} T recognizing 
their different conditions iu and after death. In each of 
these several particulars we have seen that the holy scrip- 
tures do furnish certain sufficieLt and demonstrative evi- 
dence, that man has a spiritual nature which survives phy- 
sical death, and is neither asleep or unconscious. 

We have also shown that the dogmas of materialism dis- 
honor the Divine Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the 
Holy Spirit, and misrepresent the entire work of redemp- 
tion. Indeed, this movement is as gross and palpable a 
trespass on christian doctrine and God's manhood, (as orig- 
inally constituted and ultimately restored) as has ^veY been 
perpetrated by any body or sect professing a christian ex- 
perience. 

Dear reader, we leave our labor with you ; it is your bus- 
iness to discover, accept and confess the truth. Our work 
has cost us much, and we do not expect remuneration ; we 
have no personal interests to secure, are committed to the 
defence of no darling errors, are the partisan of no sectari- 
an clique, have no paper to advertise, or through which to 
take our appeal to sympathetic readers. We are pledged 
only to Christ and His truth. 

How is it with you, have you been associated with those 
who have promulgated this heresy ? Then if our positions 
are in the main sound, you have been robbing the church of 
God of a consolation and comfort in the hour of death the 
Saviour intended she should have ! You have been per- 
verting and wresting the word of God ! You have surely 
been teaching for Gospel truth the dogmas of ancient and 
modern atheism, and have used misrepresentation in sup- 
port of your error. 

Say not, "I am not personally implicated ;" if you have 



57 

been identified with those who have, you are personally re- 
sponsible. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to 
God." Rom. 14 :12. Remember the fable of the king and 
trumpeters. In conclusion, if the perusal of this humble 
treatise shall lead you to a thorough, prayerful, and scrip- 
tural review of this whole subject, and this revision shall re- 
sult in a reasonable conviction of the unscriptural and 
untenable character of materialism, make haste to purge 
your own conscience from all complicity therein, for "The 
judgment is near and hasteth greatly." 

Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and 
to present us faultless before the presence of His Glory 
with exceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, be 
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
Amen. 

FINIS. 



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